Archives for December 2012

Social media was abuzz with news about the Fountain last week. It appeared the construction work around the fountain was nearing completion.

Inspections of the repairs are currently being done, Campus Weekly is told. The Fountain was tested once last week, and it is being tested this week.

Once the construction fence around the upper part of the fountain area was removed the first part of last week, students began hanging out on the uppermost Fountain steps.

The steps provide a great view of the new Dining Hall façade, featuring glass-walled balconies. The dining hall renovation project’s phase one, which includes the new addition on the west side of the building, was recently approved by the state for occupancy, according to Facilities Design and Construction. The new addition opened Wednesday, Dec. 5.

This new addition includes large dining areas, the balconies overlooking the Fountain plaza, restrooms, a check-in area and a new elevator. It will soon include a convenience store and a Taco Bell.

Grounds will seed and straw the grass areas near the Fountain this week. Over the holiday break, Grounds will replace a number of trees. According to Chris Fay, six will be gingko trees, notable for their golden leaves in the fall. Five, in grates on the uppermost level, will be Chinese pistachio trees. Those two types are trees not only are beautiful, they do well in that particular type of environment.

In other news, work has begun at the Pedestrian Underpass near Lee Street. Excavation and grading for the plaza on Lee Street is under way, and construction of concrete retaining walls should start soon, according to Facilities Design and Construction. Additional work is being done at the site as well.

UNCG’s December 2012 commencement ceremony takes place Thursday, Dec. 13, bringing the total number of UNCG degrees awarded in August and December to about 1,760.

The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. Dr. Heather Helms, associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies and the 2011–12 Senior Faculty Teaching Excellence Professor, will deliver the commencement address.

Helms’ research focuses on the marital, family and work experiences of parents raising children. Currently, she is studying the link between economic and cultural stressors and spouses’ health and marital quality among immigrant Mexican couples living in North Carolina.

UNCG will have awarded approximately 1,760 degrees to students who completed degrees in August and December. This number includes: 1,273 baccalaureate degrees, 395 master’s degrees, 13 Specialist in Education degrees, and 79 doctoral degrees. Of these degrees, about 32 have been or will be awarded to international students.

It went into overtime. But the campus hit its $235,000 goal for the 2012 State Employees Combined Campaign. As of Dec. 3, the total is $238,131.

The campaign supports more than 1,000 charitable organizations in our community and state.

“We did it!” said Dr. Kathleen Williams, SECC chair for the campus. “I want to thank everyone who participated from every part of campus – and all those who volunteered as well.”

Chancellor Linda P. Brady said, “The employees of this university, through their support of this campaign, have made a difference in the lives of thousands of people in our community and beyond. Once again, they have shown their caring spirit.”

Military Times Edge magazine has named UNCG a “Best for Vets” school. UNCG is the only public university in North Carolina included in the annual ranking.

“As a state-supported public institution it is our role, and our duty, to serve the community and the state,” said Chancellor Linda P. Brady. “I can’t think of a better way to uphold that commitment than to support service members, veterans and their families in any way possible.”

UNCG ranked 61 among 68 ranked four-year schools.

Rankings are based on several factors, including staff assigned to support veterans, graduation rates for veterans, loan default rates for veterans and numbers of military-affiliated students enrolled.

Three tenure-track faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences have been awarded the first Candace Bernard and Robert Glickman Dean’s Professorships, based on their scholarly accomplishments and promise and their commitment to excellent teaching:

Dr. Janet Boseovski, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, joined the UNCG faculty in 2007. A developmental psychologist who studies social perception in children, she has published influential empirical and theoretical work in some of the leading journals in her field. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She teaches courses at all levels from General Psychology to a specialized doctoral seminar and supervises the research of numerous undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Corey Johnson, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, joined the UNCG faculty in 2008. His research on the political geography of Europe and Eurasia has resulted in articles in prestigious journals and several chapters in edited books. He has given numerous invited presentations to universities and government agencies in the US and Europe and was recently awarded fellowships by the German Marshall Fund and the Joachim Hertz Foundation (Hamburg). His commitment to teaching was recognized by a “Professor of the Year” award from the UNCG Geography Club.

Dr. Linda Rupert, assistant professor in the Department of History, joined the UNCG faculty in 2006. A historian of the early modern Caribbean, she has published a scholarly monograph in addition to refereed articles and book chapters. Her research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies, among other agencies. Her teaching, which spans both undergraduate and graduate levels, includes a course on “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Real Story.”

The Bernard-Glickman Dean’s Professorships are made possible by a gift from Candace Bernard (Class of ‘67) and Robert Glickman of Wayne, Pennsylvania. Each award includes a salary stipend and a fund for research. According to Dr. Timothy D. Johnston, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, “The recipients of these awards epitomize the outstanding young faculty whom we have been fortunate to recruit and retain at UNCG. Selecting three from among almost 20 excellent nominees was a difficult task that reinforced in my mind the very high quality of the work being done by faculty all across the College. We are very grateful to Ms. Bernard and Mr. Glickman for their vision and generosity in making these awards possible.” A competition for the 2013 awards will be announced next spring.

Graduate students from the Public History program are helping to ensure the history of Terra Cotta, a community in western Greensboro, isn’t overlooked.

For close to a century — from the 1880s through the 1960s– Terra Cotta was an African American company town where workers made the clay pipes that supported sewer systems across the South.

Eight UNCG graduate students have partnered with the Terra Cotta Heritage Foundation to create an exhibition in the neighborhood’s museum about the rich life of the community. The opening of the exhibit, titled Past the Pipes: Stories of the Terra Cotta Community, will be 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Terra Cotta Heritage Museum, 504 Norwalk St. in Greensboro. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Campus Weekly will not publish again until Jan. 9, 2013. But the relatively new CW Twitter feed is one great way to help stay informed between issues.

The CW Twitter feed, operated by the CW editor, is one of many Twitter feeds around campus. See a list at uc.uncg.edu/connect/social-media-directory. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can visit each Twitter site. But what works best is simply following the feeds you’d like with your own Twitter account.

Campus Weekly began its Twitter feed, which currently has about 125 followers, last summer. It has helped interested members of the campus community stay better informed. It has allowed the editor to include short pieces of information or observations that may not have a good place in Campus Weekly – as well as “retweet” interesting news items or pictures from around campus that may be of interest to CW readers.

The SECC had passed its goal? CW tweeted that news last Thursday – five days before it was published in CW. Don’t think you can learn much from short (fewer than 140 character) posts? Some tweets have a picture or link to a detailed post, so you can have detailed information.

Donations for staff members’ and their families may be brought to Room 20, McIver Building before Dec. 18. On Dec. 19 the Staff Senate On Campus Service Committee will host a floating Holiday Party from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 20 McIver. Presents will be wrapped, light refreshments will be served and holiday tunes will fill the air. Staff members are encouraged to stop by for a while and wrap a gift or two.

This year’s luminaire display was as beautiful as ever. Wonder how the tradition started? Erin Lawrimore tells all, in this week’s ‘Spartan Stories’ blog.

“At 7 a.m. on a December morning in 1969, a number of UNCG students gathered in front of the Elliott University Center with 2,000 candles, white paper bags, soufflé cups, and a really big pile of sand,” her story begins. Chancellor Ferguson provided money to purchase the sand and candles, she explains. The white bags and the soufflé cups were donated by the Caf.

After the candles were in place on campus and lit at dusk, the students sang seasonal songs and drank hot cider and hot chocolate around a bonfire that burned in a metal pit, she says.

Lawrimore joined UNCG University Libraries last year as university archivist, a position Betty Carter that had held before retiring.

She began the “Spartan Stories” blog on Oct. 1. She writes many posts, while others contribute as well.

Her favorite things so far? “First, I just love getting the stories out there. UNCG’s history is so interesting. I feel that knowing more about the history of the school helps us build a greater sense of community and appreciation for ongoing campus development. But, the blog is also giving me a great opportunity to learn new stories that I can then incorporate into the numerous classes that I teach and presentations that I do.

“UNCG has a unique history filled with interesting stories,” she says, and week by week the blog will tell them.

CW asked Lawrimore about her own story. Did you know as an English major undergraduate at Duke, she once had Reynolds Price as a professor? Or that she worked in the Sports Information department at both Duke and The University of Texas – Austin, where she received her master’s?

She also worked for the Atlanta Braves one summer, in a program created by Hank Aaron. She mostly worked on their post-season media guide and compiled clippings and statistics. “And I did some random game-day duties – my favorite being the day I was sent to the field to make sure no one with a press pass asked for Mark McGwire’s autograph during batting practice. I like to say that I was his body guard.”

After receiving her master’s, she spent five years in the special collections library at the University of Tennessee. Before joining UNCG, she was the associate head and curator at the Special Collections Research Center at NC State’s DH Hill Library.

Christina Hart hails from Long Island. Her family fared relatively well as Hurricane Sandy brought floods and devastation to the region. But Christina, a UNCG grad student studying cello performance, couldn’t stand by and do nothing to help the countless other families who lost everything to Sandy.

With the help of her fellow students in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, she has organized a relief concert for those impacted by Sandy. The concert begins at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 5, in the Music Building Recital Hall. The concert is open to the public, no tickets required, and a $5 per person cash donation is suggested.

Spartan men’s basketball opened the SoCon slate by defeating The Citadel 84-54 Dec.1. With the win, their season record is 2-5. Business major Drew Parker, a junior, led the scoring in the game. Public Health major Trevis Simpson, also a junior, reached the 1,000 point mark for his college career. The team’s next two home games are against Wake Forest on Dec. 22 and Lees-McRae on Jan. 9. Enjoy this highlights reel by UNCG Athletics.

Dr. Chris Payne (Center for Youth, Families, and Community Partnerships) received additional funding from the Guilford County Partnership for Children for the project Bringing Out the Best. Social-emotional development and school readiness/success in young children is clearly linked with children who have behavioral or emotional challenges being at risk not only for later mental health challenges but also for school failure, the abstract says. This project will increase school readiness/success by improving the quality of the daycare/preschool experience for these infants and young children.

Dr. Clara Chu (Library and Information Studies) has been chosen vice president/president-elect of ALISE, the Association for Library and Information Science Education. ALISE is a non-profit organization that serves university faculty in graduate programs in library and information science in North America. Its mission is to promote excellence in research, teaching and service and to provide an understanding of the values and ethos of library and information science. ALISE serves 500 individual members and more than 60 institutional members, primarily in the United States and Canada. Chu is chair of UNCG’s Department of Library and Information Studies.